PESHAWAR: A case has been registered against senior journalist Ghulam Akbar Marwat in Lakki Marwat over unveiling alleged corruption in the distribution of subsidized flour.

The Food Department has also accused the journalist of blackmailing. The journalist community has condemned the vindictive action against the journalist over reporting malpractices.

Ghulam Akbar Marwat, who is president of Lakki Marwat Press Club, broke a news few days ago that the district food controller in connivance with the flour mills owners was doing malpractices in distribution of subsidized flour available from the government due to which the citizens are finding it difficult to get the flour on subsidized rates.

Ghulam Akbar Marwat said the journalists were receiving complaints from citizens that they were not receiving flour at subsidized rates. He said he unveiled the corrupt practices of the Food Department and flour mills owners due to which the district food officer got registered a case against him. The journalist said it was announced on the official Facebook page of deputy commissioner that flour bags would be provided in Mandrakhel village on official rates, but the Food Department said only 500 flour bags are available. He said he came to know that only 370 flour bags were distributed in that village. He claimed that he came to know through ‘credible sources’ that the Food Department, district administration and mills owners were hand-in-glove for this misappropriation, and now he is being punished for bringing facts before public.

The district food controller has rejected allegations against him and said the journalist has been booked over trying to hinder the official work and mislead the public.

Ghulam Akbar Marwat has got anticipatory bail from the court and journalist organizations have condemned the registration of case against him and termed it an attack on freedom of media.

Federal Union of Journalists senior vice president Shameem Shahid said targeting journalists for unveiling corruption is unfortunate. He demanded the government to withdraw case against the journalist.

Khyber Union of Journalists secretary general Muhammad Naeem said protests would be staged if the case was not withdrawn.

The journalists of Lakki Marwat have also condemned action against Ghulam Akbar Marwat and said journalists cannot be suppressed through such tactics.

Website: MENAFN

SUKKUR: A double bench of the Sindh High Court, Larkana, on Thursday, accepting the appeal of convicted accused in journalist Wali Babar case, quashed the sentence passed by the ATC Court, Kandhkot.

Reports said that on Thursday, Justice Muhammed Kareem Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi of Sindh High Court Bench, Larkana, had quashed capital punishment of two accused, Faisal Mota and Kamran alias Zeeshan, and life imprisonment of Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shahrukh alias Manni after scrutinising their appeal. The accused were MQM activists.

In 2011, the special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Kandhkot, had handed down death sentences to two absconders and life imprisonment to four others found guilty of murdering TV reporter Wali Babar. The court had convicted two absconding accused, Faisal Mehmood and Kamran, giving death sentences in absentia. Four co-accused, Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi and Shahrukh alias Manni, were handed down life terms.

Newspaper: The News

Pakistan’s politics repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce. So, while you may initially be inclined to shed tears over it, a better reaction, I humbly suggest, might be to enjoy the absurdities for what they are. It is the greatest comic show, better than anything you could find on Netflix. And it certainly will take your mind off the weepfests that pass for drama on our entertainment channels.

Don’t believe me? Look up what any government ever in Pakistan has said about the state of the economy it has inherited from their predecessors. Put another way, nobody ever came into power extolling the virtues and financial brilliance of the people they replaced. Sometimes I feel we only have coups, summary dismissals of elected governments and engineered elections in order for an age-old tradition to be fulfilled, almost as if too long a period of stability would upset the space-time continuum in which Pakistan’s economic position can be periodically categoriSed as ‘fragile’. And we are nothing without our traditions.

This is, of course, not to say that we’ve had any geniuses running our economy in the past. I mean, if there’s one thing nobody has ever accused Ishaq Dar of, it’s genius.

This year, in order to fulfil the demands of tradition and to illustrate just how precarious a position we were in, we auctioned off some cars and buffaloes. This may not have made a dent in the economy but it did speed up the elevation of Minister of State Murad Saeed into a full minister. Mr Saeed has a reputation for speed anyway, first acquired in the examination hall where he managed to take three (or was it five?) exams at the same time, but he reinforced it this year by attempting to osmose through a glass door. Nobody begrudges him his nose for speedy shortcuts.

As if that were not enough, to reinforce that we are passing through uncertain economic times, we managed to destroy thousands of markets and livelihoods across Pakistan in the name of anti-encroachment drives. Because nothing helps revive the economy better than lots of people out of work and pocket. As long as it’s not well-heeled encroachers setting up housing societies for the well-heeled.

On the flip side, the government announced cheap helicopter rides and the premier told us about chickens and eggs, phantom gas which could power Pakistan for 50 years or not at all, and Chinese trains running at the speed of light. The latter, if the principles of physics are anything to go by, would result in time flowing backwards — which might not be the best of things for Naya Pakistan but would certainly help in putting us on the path to greatness, since the road to greatness is apparently paved with U-turns. Ask Hitler or Napoleon if you have any doubts.

But if the government’s material is ever lagging, we always have the opposition to take up the slack. Is there anything funnier than Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Siraj ul Haq struggling to remain relevant? One keeps trying to organise ‘All-Party’ Conferences that nobody attends, the other rains fire and brimstone about a previous government he was part of, hoping nobody notices. Then we have Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif whose biggest concern seems to be how to adopt his famous one-finger-on-his-cheek pose while shuttling between prison and parliament. His apparent hope is that if he were to keep not saying anything remotely critical of the establishment, that he will be allowed to adopt his favourite pose in the future.

Meanwhile, brother Nawaz Sharif seems to be on a Monopoly board, where he owns Mayfair thanks to some rather generous Qataris but keeps drawing the ‘Go to Jail – Do Not Pass Go’ card. If nothing else, this year offered Pakistanis a geography lesson about the significance of little old Panama. Asif Zardari on the other hand, has maintained his reputation for saying things that only make it worse. This year the former president of the Islamic Republic wondered what the problem was in creating fake bank accounts. He called it “normal business practice.” And he also called an alleged killer of more than 400 people in fake police encounters “a brave kid.” While others tell each other to ‘get real’, Zardari opts for ‘get surreal.’

If you still want more, I can point you in the direction of Canadians and Egyptians who’ve had their Twitter accounts threatened for allegedly contravening Pakistani narratives while Pakistani sleuths rise to the challenge of mythical 5th Generation Warfare with hammer and tongs in hand.

But in terms of ratings, no show this year has beat The Dam Show. We may never reach the longed-for funding target through crowdfunding and random enforced contributions by land-grabbers hoping to have their cases quashed, but at least we got good memes out of it.

This year has been great for celebrities who got married. We are way more excited to see their wedding pictures releasing than their movies. And celebrities definitely know how to cash in on even their weddings. Who would know that better than DeepVeer who had their wedding in Italy — which seemed more like a top secret mission where guests were not allowed to take any pictures because the couple was going to make the official release themselves. And boy, how we waited for those pictures! Good thing that their family didn’t ruin it for them. If it was my khandan, they would be the first ones to leak the pictures kyun ke kisi ki khushi bardasht nahi hoti.

This year, three fellow comedians got married too, probably just so they have more material for their stand-up. I mean I’d do that too in case I think I’m running out of jokes.

Actor/comedian Faiza Saleem got married — you heard it right, Danger Dadi is off the market. She was seen making a grand entrance with her Dhinchak moves on her mehndi. But I guess people wanted to talk more about Jibran Nasir for his killer moves to a Govinda song. You really don’t get to see that every day. After watching that, we definitely need Jibran for president!

Then came the Wedding of Endless Events: #Aineeb’s wedding, which sounded like a third person named Aineeb was getting married. I think someone might want to check if there are any more events left, like ‘The First Time He Took Me To Dinner’ event.

Then, Amir Liaquat jumped on the bandwagon but he didn’t have too many events because the Second Time Round a person doesn’t make the mistake of spending too much on their wedding. But Liaquat definitely made the most of post-wedding public appearances on TV morning shows. And who better to cash in on that than morning shows. The highlight of his marriage has been his wife calling him (pyar se) ‘Panther’ … after which the jungle kingdom started a protest. Yeah, you might want to take consent from the animal before you start calling your significant other after it.

How can we not include the Bollywood–Hollywood milan courtesy Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, where people made beautiful memes of Priyanka’s dress looking like pencil shavings. I haven’t watched Game of Thrones so I don’t know any Sophie Turner jokes. Sorry if I’m missing out on that.

Then came the Grand Ambani wedding where we saw what ‘Paisa phaink tamasha dekh’ literally means. Beyonce was flown down to India to perform at the wedding. I guess that was the best present for all the bride’s single friends; they could shake to ‘Single Ladies’ and not feel like they’re missing out on getting hitched this year. It was a celebrity-packed wedding, where we saw Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor not in the limelight but just down to background dancers, and where Aishwariya Rai and Aamir Khan served food. Seeing all this, I guess they booked Imran Hashmi for the wedding night just to fill up the background.

But the year is about to end and, with it, so is the wedding season. Can’t wait for the next wedding season — because who doesn’t love dressing up, dancing to Bollywood songs and eating free food! And, oh, stalking celebrities’ wedding photos.

FREE AT LAST

For the first time in our history, we are witnessing the blessed and festive days of December bring this year to a close. With the last vestiges of 2018 becoming vapour as a result of the warmth generated by the unprecedented levels of goodwill, bonhomie and camaraderie permeating our entire nation, we bow in gratitude to those whose sagacity and wisdom have brought us to this magnificent pass (once again).

This national euphoria is making its presence felt in a myriad ways, chief among them being the total, utter and complete freedom to express one’s opinion. Citizens, especially those belonging to the print, electronic and social media, can’t believe their luck. Journalists have never felt this free and liberated. In fact, many have felt so free that they have gone and involuntarily liberated themselves from their jobs, columns, television shows and Twitter accounts. Chants of “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” have been ringing ceaselessly from press clubs across our glorious republic.

I, for one, can’t breathe with excitement. Gone are the days when one would think twice — or even three or four times — before running a potential story idea by one’s editor to gauge their feedback and approval. Fortunately, we now live in a different world. The strength and confidence true freedom gives one is indescribable. There is no stopping me now when I consider story ideas that have a profound and lasting impact on the political and social fabric of our society… ideas which demand answers to deep, important, even searing questions, such as:

• What do state-owned buffaloes think of being auctioned?

• How does owning a green Samsung phone cover impact the social lives of women named Zubaida Bano?

• How many Anjums does it take to change a light bulb?

• Do some people from South Waziristan shun mainstream media because they are Amish? Or does the mainstream media shun them because it is Amish?

• Is the light of speed brighter than the sound of silence?

• When will braided beards become a trend among Generation Xers?

• Do the wealthy and powerful have a conscience? And if so, what planet do they keep it on?

• Why are red M&Ms better than all other M&Ms?

• Why must we look both ways before going to bed?

• Who do you think stole your lunch money in grade 4?

• Does the establishment know you are rebelling against it when you wear loud, multi-coloured socks?

• How much sohan halwa does your expatriate khala buy when the rupee is unexpectedly devalued?

• What would it take to get Supreme Court advocates to wear red pants in court?

• How many cups of water does it take to fill up a dam?

• Can auctioned, second-hand cars be turned into universities?

• Is it true that 75 percent of female penguins in Antartica are addicted to ice?

• How many calories does positive reporting burn in a day?

The significance of these (and other such) stories will become clear in the coming new year. One’s free, completely unencumbered, liberty-laden shall dance with glee and speak with abandon of everything one’s mortal heart desires. From braided beards and light of speed to Amish Waziristanis and cups of dam, 2019 appears a year that is destined to set our media free and rid it of the unnecessary accoutrements of credibility, import and veracity. Inshallah!

To quote from hazrat George Michael’s 1990 hit single Freedom:

“All we have to do now, us take these lies and make them true somehow.”

Farid Alvie was born. He currently lives.
He tweets @faridalvie

Journalists have never felt this free and liberated. In fact, many have felt so free that they have gone and involuntarily liberated themselves from their jobs, columns, television shows and Twitter accounts. Chants of “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” have been ringing ceaselessly from press clubs across our glorious republic.

Positive Reporting

Anti-establishment journalism isn’t what it used to be. You would have noticed the whining of the anti-establishment journalists/activists about censorship and jobs, etc. The whole revolutionary glamour associated with going against establishment is rapidly diminishing. Also, many have stopped drinking to slow ageing. Now even the anti-establishment types want to live longer, look younger, make more money and have a secure life. I have started to suspect that it’s so much easier to just become pro-establishment instead of treading this thin line. This, then, is my first attempt at positive reporting: a round-up of 2018 news.

We got to know this year that 75 percent of female students of schools in Islamabad are addicted to ice. This is such great news because ever since Breaking Bad, the Lyari-maarka adulterated crystal meth called sheesha was selling for 3000 rupees a gram. So, many students affording that or more means our per capita income isn’t as bad as some would make us believe. Also, the fact put paid to the gender discrimination nonsense because in comparison a paltry 45 percent of boys are using the drug.

This year also brought the anti-establishment and pro-establishment forces to the same page over anything. While, the two groups have traditionally struggled to agree on what kind of a state we want to be, with what sort of relations with which country, there’s finally agreement over the need to be united against the Higher Education Commission, since it took so long to attest young Mazari’s degrees, upsetting mother and daughter alike.

While ICC is well within its right to go after users of performance enhancing drugs, it always puzzled the more sensitive souls what its beef was with recreational drugs. At most it should concern a country’s board if a player is underperforming because of drugs. I too was of this view, but 2018 proved how wrong I was when Ahmed Shehzad got caught in a random dope test and remained banned throughout the year.

This year was a godsend for op-ed editors of the country. The censorship and positive reporting thing worked for them like a charm. All the boring op-ed pieces which they couldn’t refuse, because either they were by ‘senior’ journalists or sons thereof, now are respectfuly told their piece can’t be published because of its explosive content. Later, when it gets published on some website with a note that this couldn’t make it to the newspaper because of draconian censorship, it works beautifully for all parties: the writer, by massaging his ego, and the reader who gets to know in advance that the piece is a dud.

The WWE wrestlers not only visited Pakistan twice this year but also went to the Wagah border once and chanted ‘Pakistan zindabad’ along with the passionate crowd. Some of them allegedly also hurled abuses at the Indian soldiers. This was a resounding slap on the face of people who thought we were facing isolation in the world.

After the acrimonious general elections, and the bad taste in the mouth of many when the party head of the (now) opposition party was incarcerated, the ruling party and opposition displayed great sportsmanship by supporting each other when a minority member of parliament attempted to table a bill to ban liquor across-the-board since no religion (including his own) permitted consumption of alcohol. The ruling and the opposition parties, in a beautiful and bipartisan display of tolerance for minority religions, voted the bill down without debate.

Earlier this year, when the dollar price hiked in the previous government’s term, Miftah Ismil, the then finance minister, had said that it would help our export. It’s heartening to see that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, after coming into power, is continuing with the better policies of the last government.

This was a particularly good year in many other respects too. Sadly, the word limit doesn’t allow me to go any further. Can’t wait for 2019.

The writer is a singer/songwriter, journalist and a documentary-maker.
He runs the vlog ‘Ali Uncensored‘ on YouTube

#Men Too

Hi, how are you? I’m doing well too. Should we start, or would you like some water? Okay then.

So I’m sure you heard that earlier this year a very famous musician was accused of sexual harassment. It was very damaging to his career, the poor guy is doing Mobilink ads now, I feel so bad for him.

Then a teacher was accused. Then an artist. Then another teacher. Then a women’s hockey team coach. Last year it was a cricket selector. You get the idea. Women are calling out every man they meet for harassment.

Now I’m not a misogynist but, if this goes on unchecked, there will be no men left to work with. All men cannot possibly be sexual harassers. Certainly not me. I’ve never harassed a woman. I don’t even know how to spell the word.

I have so many female friends. They’ve never said anything.

Who said that? On what group? Well that’s not right. I am very cordial with them. And I don’t know about everyone else, but my mother is a woman too. As is my sister. As are my colleagues.

So? I have a crush on a colleague, yes. No, I just follow her on Twitter. And Instagram. And Facebook. Wait, not Facebook. She never accepted my friend request. I wonder why. She probably doesn’t log in very often.

Er, the what the who now? It’s because I make her uncomfortable? What are you talking about. Did she tell you this? What else?

I sit too close to her in meetings? I’m always right behind her waiting for the coffee machine? But it’s because there’s a very small area at the office. Often you have to squeeze past someone.

This personal space idea is such a hipster obsession. When I was growing up, anyone could sit wherever they wanted. Well no, they couldn’t sit ON someone. How is that relevant? Look if you’re there to make money you should be professional about these things. It’s like they say, naukeri ki tou nakhra kya.

Haha, what! I’m always asking to share her lipstick-laden cigrattes? Well, sometimes, but I always forget my pack at home. Is that a crime now?

You should read some of the other opinions too not just feminists’. Many of our public intellectuals have noted how confusing sexual harassment can be. Like Hamza Ali Abbasi. He tweeted to ask isn’t this the same thing as flirting? After all where does one draw the line? What was that, on the woman in question? So very funny. Not.

Don’t you see how it’s confusing. You have a few drinks, are relaxing on the sofa and suddenly find yourself in the neighbour’s house grabbing someone’s something or the other. It happens.

It’s all harmless, isn’t it? A friendly caress, a few whispered words of appreciation. Other than subjecting someone to bad breath, where’s the harm in that?

If I see someone who’s dressed a certain way I know she’s out to have fun and flirt a little. It’s just casual. That’s why I always end up asking her if she sees us having kids together.

And who’s to say she doesn’t enjoy the attention? Certainly not the woman herself. What would she know, she’s not a man. I think. I hope.

Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me it’s not okay to comment on her dress at the work place. Or ask her to wear black nailpolish, because it suits her. To tell her to dress more feminine. Make her stay at work late to chit chat. Insist she sit next to me in the car, discussing how feminists are ruining society these days.

These women who want to be equal with men but can’t take the stress that comes with it. Sitting behind a desk all day ordering tea, then complaining about how bad it’s made then send a man to go get some biscuits. The worst days are when I have to sign things without reading them.

Also … oh, sorry, was that my hand on your knee. The chair is just so deceptively close to me. I’ll sit back down instead of hovering over it. By the way, you should come to my dinner next week. You won’t need to bring anyone along, you know most of the people there.

Flirting is healthy, isn’t it? Well, no, not that kind of healthy. You can’t lose weight by flirting.

You know what I mean, you meet a lady and she’s super attractive and she comes close to greet you and you let your hand linger on her back for a few minutes. Even when she walks into another room. Any room. Other than the restroom. I’m not a pervert.

Basically, women should have thicker skins. No, not like a labourer’s hands. Then you lose your feminity…femininty … am I saying this right? Anyway, smooth and supple skin but thick on the inside. I know there’s no skin on the inside. I’m trying to make a point here.

Would I be okay with my sister flirting with someone? Well, no, but that’s different. I would worry that she meets the wrong kind of guy. Like me? Oh, come on, I’m a perfect gentleman. Oh, sorry, there’s the hand again.

Do you think men should start a #MeToo as well? Like the ones who are unjustly accused?

You do??? Oh, you mean for the men who HAVE harassed a woman. Like: I did it. Me too.

I don’t think I’ve gotten through to you at all. Say why don’t you drop by the house later tonight and we can discuss it over some wine? Sound good? Hello, why are you walking away? Does this mean a no?

Okay, we’ll forget the wine and just watch some movies. I wonder what’s gotten into her. She’s the best therapist I’ve had. It’s her own office she’s walking out of.

Dawn

Last year March 27 was undoubtedly a tragic day in Sialkot when Zeeshan Butt, a local journalist working for a Lahore-based newspaper (Nawa-e-Waqt), was on phone. He was talking to the Sialkot District Council Chairperson Hina Arshad Warraich and complaining about death threats hurled on him by a PML-N backed Union Council Chairman Imran Cheema.

Zeeshan complained he had visited Imran’s office in Sambrial tehsil and questioned the recently introduced taxes on shops in Bhegowala bazar. Instead of giving the answer the journalist had sought, the UC chairman abused him and gave death threats. He wanted the issue to be hushed up and not brought to the notice of high-ups.

While Zeeshan was in the middle of the phone call, Imran appeared on the spot with his accomplices and fired shots at Zeeshan. The deafening noise of the shots was followed by a pin drop silence. The victim fell to the ground and succumbed to the fatal injuries.

These details were not narrated by any eye witness or aide of Zeeshan. In fact, these were all recorded and recovered from his cell phone taken into custody by the police. Even the sound of the shots fired at him were recorded and heard by countless people who had access to this audio circulated widely on social media.

Soon afterward, it became an issue about threats to media and freedom of expression. Voices emerged from all over to bring the culprits to justice. Journalists from the entire country built up pressure on the concerned quarters to arrest and punish the culprits. However, at the same time, anti-narrative was flared up too, propagating that it was a result of personal enmity and not the other way around.

Reportedly, there were repeated attempts to spread this perception because the police was finding it hard to sustain the pressure from the journalist fraternity. Meanwhile, it was a pity that hardly any media organisation mentioned the name of Zeeshan’s organisation while carrying follow-up reports about his murder and investigations. The main accused, Imran, has escaped abroad. The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) took up the case and ordered the police to arrest the murderer as early as possible. Police arrested Usman alias Sheeshu, Shahid, son of Arif, and Saqlain alias Maula while the main killer Imran Aslam Cheema escaped from the country and is not yet arrested.

Mazhar Abbas, former secretary general Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), believes there are several reasons for the lack of progress and convictions in the cases of journalists’ murders. The foremost is the general inability of the heirs to follow up these cases and go through the long process starting from registration of FIR to investigation, trial in sessions courts and hearing of appeals in the high court and the Supreme Court. In many cases, they do not have enough financial resources to hire lawyers and spend at police stations. So, if the family decides not to pursue the case or drop it any stage it cannot proceed. Police is reluctant to provide copy of the FIR and President of PFUJ says PFUJ doesn’t have any record of the slain journalist Saleem Shahzad’s family. No one is ready to talk on the issue.

The second reason is the missing support that should have come from their organisations. A majority of the slain journalists in Punjab, he says, “were found to be affiliated with small organisations and based away from big urban centres”. The journalist unions, he says, “do raise voice but these are the media organisations which must own their workers and pursue the cases.”

This is just one case in point and reflects the general trend in the Punjab province. Here journalists are mostly threatened, harassed and killed by influentials who are annoyed by exposition of their wrongdoings. A quick glance at the incidents of journalists’ murders in Punjab shows most of them were district/tehsil correspondents of media organisations who had tried to expose the influential politicians, criminals, gangsters etc. There are others, too, who died due to excesses by invisible forces or terrorism in Punjab, but their numbers are very few.

However, regardless of the type, one finds that the fate of these cases is similar. From reporting to investigation and prosecution, award of financial compensation to the heirs, role of the employers, there is a strange resemblance with the extraordinary happening in a few cases.

To start with, one can discuss the cases of Saleem Shahzad, whose body was recovered from a canal in Mandi Bahauddin, and Ejaz ul Haq, an employee of City 42, shot dead by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists in Lahore.

Saleem Shahzad worked for Asia Times Online based in Hong Kong and Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI) and was killed on May 10, 2011. Reportedly, he had been kidnapped from Islamabad while he was on his way to the office of a TV channel to take part in a talk show. The global rights body Human Rights Watch claimed Saleem had informed them about threats received from the country’s premier intelligence agency as he had been writing sensitive stories not acceptable to it. This could not be proved during investigations as well as by the judicial commission formed for this purpose. Though, the commission did not clearly identify the culprit, it came out with suggestions on how to avert similar incidents and proposed monetary compensation for Saleem’s family, employment for his wife, and state-funded education for his children.

I contacted Zubair Akhtar, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Sadar Mandi Bahauddin Police Station to get an update on the case. The SHO informed that the case had been closed because of lack of evidences. He was also not aware of the current status of the case and could not recall anybody from the family approaching him for this purpose. The SHO seemed to be in a hurry to end the call and denied having knowledge of the whereabouts of Saleem’s family. (You can get the contact details from FIR or PFUJ, please talk to them). Police is reluctant to provide copy of the FIR and President of PFUJ Rehman Bhutta says PFUJ doesn’t have any record of the slain journalist’s family. No one is ready to talk on the issue.

Saleem Shahzad’s wife, Anita Saleem, has given an interview to AKI which appeared on November 29, 2018. In the interview, she disclosed, the family has not received any support from the government or any other source. She said, “We will never know who killed Saleem, and why.”

On May 28, 2010, during a terrorist attack on Ahmadi community’s worship place in Garhi Shahu, a journalist Ijazul Haq was killed when he was giving live updates on his cellular phone to his TV Channel City 42. At least 98 people were killed on the spot and 120 got severely injured in this terrorist attack.

According to Amir, a technician in City 42, a colleague and friend of the slain journalist, Ijaz was very humble and a hardworking man. He said after his death, Mohsin Naqvi, the owner of City 42, extended financial help to the family. The family, residing in Lahore at that time, was given Rs 0.5 million by the PPP government which also announced free education for his children.

Another colleague of his who does not want to be named, revealed that the entire family left Pakistan and settled abroad. According to him, it was alleged that he was an Ahmadi and his family received support from the community and settled abroad.

Coming to the cases of journalists falling victims to enmities developed with individuals or groups, we take up a couple of cases for discussion and analyse them. For example, Amir Wakeel, correspondent of daily Awami Inqlab, was killed by unknown assailants in Rawalpindi on January 23, 2009. He left behind four kids who immediately moved to their ancestral area of Karak, KPK, after his death. His brother Kamal Asfar was an active journalist who had contested for National Assembly seat from Rawalpindi but disappeared from scene after pursuing his brother’s case for some time.

Abdul Waheed Anjum, Secretary Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club, says some journalists believe the brother of the slain journalist was also threatened by unknown men and warned not to pursue the case. Footprints of unknown killers were reportedly traced back in tribal areas of KP but not a single killer of Amir Wakeel has yet been arrested.

On January 23, 2009, afternoon, Amir Wakeel was killed at Committee Chowk in Rawalpindi by unknown killers. He was shot at and two bullets hit his head. He was shifted to District Head Quarter (DHQ) hospital Rawalpindi where he died.

Similarly, on April 22, 2014, Shahzad Iqbal, who was affiliated with Sama TV as a correspondent for six years in Mianwali district, was killed. Reportedly, the killers included Shafaullah Khan, Shabbir Khan and Irfan Khan. They shot fire at Shahzad and his brothers Sajjad Iqbal and Sikandar Iqbal when they were riding motorcycles. The assailants intercepted them in Nai Abadi Mianwali. All three of them received serious injuries and were shifted to District Hospital Mianwali where Shahzad was pronounced dead.

After one week, the killers were apprehended by police and presented before the court. The case continued for one and a half year. Later, the family settled the dispute with the accused and pardoned the murderers on May 26, 2016. Now, the accused are free. According to Sajjad Iqbal, the brother of the deceased, the organisation and Press Club Mianwali did not cooperate with the family. While defending the settlement, he explained that the family did not want to promote enmity. When inquired about the blood money in exchange of this pardon, he did not answer in affirmative. Sajjad was also injured seriously in the armed attack and this act of pardon appears quite unnatural. He was killed over an old enmity.

Muhammad Aftab Alam, a lawyer based in Islamabad, shares that the cases of journalists’ murders are taken like any other murder by the police and are not registered under any special law. Though a provision to invoke Article 7 of ATA has been taken and incorporated into substantial law, there is no supporting amendment in the procedural law that defines procedures to implement laws and award punishments.

Aftab believes that murder of a journalist is homicide as well as a curb on freedom of expression which is a constitutional right. Therefore, such cases must be treated under special laws. At the moment, the cases stay unresolved because the heirs are the complainants and they have to get things moving in a highly non-cooperative environment. He says cases of homicide cannot proceed if complainants are not aware of the complexities of our criminal justice system.

The News

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad police on Friday visited home of a The News journalist in search of a hardcore criminal. The journalist is a senior member of The News investigation team.

Showing the picture of a 50 years plus person with beard on his face, the Aabpara Police of Islamabad informed the members of the journalist’s family that this person is a hardcore criminal and living in this home of Sector G-6/2, Islamabad. The police arrived at The News journo’s home at 3:10pm on December 21. It is pertinent to mention here that security cameras are installed at the entry point of the street.

The police said they have come to arrest this person. When the members of the family responded that they have been living in this house for the last two years and no such person lives in this home, the police insisted that this hardcore criminal lives in this house and the police have confirmed information about this fact.

According to the members of the family, the attitude of police was rude. The police asked the members of the family to give the list of male residents of the house. The police wrote down names of all the male members of the family and left.

It is interesting to note that police avoided searching house despite having ‘confirmed secret information’ about presence of a hardcore criminal in the journalist’s home. It is important to note that the said journalist has contacted different top government functionaries during last one week to take their version about two of his critical stories. Ironically, both the stories are not published as yet.

The News

Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique has expressed concern over the detention of a journalist along with a researcher and driver.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali has denounced the detention of journalist and termed it an act to threaten journalists from investigating any story. PPF called on the authorities to stop targeting journalists and media professional and allow them to freely fulfill their journalistic responsibilities.

According to Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the Mozambican Defence Armed Forces (FADM) arrested Estacio Valoi of the Zambeze daily newspaper along with David Matsinhe, researcher of Amnesty International and a driver. They were detained without any charges for two days and were later released on the morning of December 19.

All three were arrested on December 17 in Palma when they were coming back from investigating a story in Chitolo, Mocímboa da Praia in Mozambique.

MISA further reported that the journalist had acquired the permission and approval for investigating the story he was doing at the time of his arrest. The government and FADM has yet not given any reason for the arrest.

Islamabad police have registered a first investigation report (FIR) against five persons, including the security guards of Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, for assaulting a Samaa TV cameraman on Monday.

TV footage had showed Syed Wajid Ali, the cameraman, lying on the ground outside the parliament building after a security guard allegedly shoved him for getting in the way of Sharif while recording footage of the politician. Another guard was then seen rushing towards the cameraman and kicking him in the face. The guard then leaves in one of the vehicles of the protocol.

The cameraman, who lost consciousness in the attack, was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). According to doctors, Ali sustained injuries on his lip, where he was administered three stitches, and on his head. The FIR names three guards from Sharif’s convoy and two unknown assailants. The case has been registered under Sections 355 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the FIR, the cameraman said that he was attacked by two security guards while he was trying to take photographs of the former prime minister leaving the parliament building.
“I became unconscious as a result of the (attack),” Ali is quoted as saying in the FIR.
The incident happened in the presence of Usman Cheema, Wahab Kamran, and other journalists, the FIR added.

Later, two of Sharif’s guards – identified as Mansub and Mohsin – were presented before a civil judge, who remanded the duo on judicial custody for 14 days.
Sharif, while speaking to the media, described the incident as unfortunate and assured that “every measure will be taken in accordance with the law”.
The former prime minister regretted the incident but claimed that the assaulted cameraman had first hit his guard with his camera. Elaborating on the incident, Sharif said that his chief security guard, Shakoor, was clearing the path for him as they headed for the car when the guard pushed the cameraman out of the way.

“I objected to the way [the cameraman] was pushed out of the way … [and then] the cameraman hit Shakoor’s forehead with his camera. Shakoor’s forehead started bleeding,” Nawaz told reporters.

“I said, no need to react. I saw the [cameraman] getting pushed, my guard getting hit, after that I don’t know what happened, I was leaving,” the former premier said.

“That is no way [to behave],” Sharif said. “[But] the cameraman had hit the guard on his forehead with his equipment.”

“I will aid the investigation into the matter in every way possible, and I will also take action against the guards who are involved in this,” the PML-N supremo said, adding that he would never want to hurt the people who are reporting about him and his family “in this difficult time”.
Speaking to journalists at the accountability court, he said that the incident should never have taken place.

Gulf Time

Upon superficial inspection, Pakistan’s market for expression is enjoying a golden age. This is a still a land of broadsheet newspapers, in both Urdu and English. Television channels only multiply. The country hardly lacks for people with a point of view, with regiments of columnists and teeming opinion-formers on social media.

This picture of a thriving, vibrant press is one that many in authority would love the world to believe. It fits with the narrative that Pakistan’s democracy is alive and healthy, and no longer plagued by military meddling. After all, at elections in July one lot of civilians, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, led by Imran Khan, turfed out another lot, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

All is not what it seems, however. For a start a fiscal crisis has walloped the media, which rely on advertising from government agencies and state-owned companies. Owners talk of the pain of having to fire journalists and cut operations. “We are all paring ourselves to the bone just to survive,” says one. “Every day the challenge is just to put out the paper.”

Worse, the army is using the crisis to reinforce an even more disturbing trend: its tendency to strong-arm journalists and bloggers, behind the scenes, to suppress all criticism, not just of the armed forces directly, but also of the policies they hold dear. The army, for example, clearly feels that it should be the sole judge of threats to national security. It decided that Nawaz Sharif, Mr Khan’s predecessor as prime minister, was one such. Two years ago at a national-security meeting, Mr Sharif and his government seem to have confronted the generals over their support for violent extremism. The army considers various militant groups useful, either because they extend Pakistan’s influence into Afghanistan (the Haqqani network) or because they discomfit India (Lashkar-e-Taiba). But supporting these outfits undermines Pakistan’s relations with America and India, among others—a situation Mr Sharif was keen to reverse.

The meeting was the beginning of the end for Mr Sharif, whose downfall and defeat in the subsequent election the army helped engineer. It also marked the start of the persecution of Dawn, Pakistan’s best-known newspaper, whose star columnist, Cyril Almeida, broke the story. Just before the election Dawn suddenly found itself denied distribution in several cities. Meanwhile, Mr Almeida may face treason charges for an interview with the former prime minister in which Mr Sharif made the shocking point that Pakistan should get along better with India.

Media types say they cannot report on the army’s constant interference in public life. Instead, they are under immense pressure to support Mr Khan and demonise Mr Sharif. Other out-of-bounds topics include the disappearance of advocates of self-rule in the province of Balochistan or in tribal areas in the north of the country. And though it is fine—indeed, expected—to rail against graft among politicians, don’t dare ask why the army is allotted so much land to dole out to officers (including the previous army chief, Raheel Sharif, who received 90 acres outside Lahore on retirement).

Bloggers who cross the line vanish into army custody, only to reappear chastened and docile. Publishers and producers say that orders about what to cover and how come in meetings with army officers, or warning calls from anonymous numbers. Threats of closure are not taken lightly. In March Geo, Pakistan’s biggest television station, found itself off the air in much of the country for a month—supposedly the spontaneous decision of hundreds of cable-providers. Private lawsuits are used to harass journalists deemed to be enemies of the state. In this environment, self-censorship flourishes. As one veteran journalist puts it, “I have never in my life experienced anything as tough as this.”

The question is, why now? One theory is that a younger generation of army officers, drawn from the lower middle classes and bloodied in the fight against home-grown militants who turned on the army, have a more Messianic impulse than older, whisky-swilling generals. After the extent of the army’s intervention in civilian affairs and foreign policy was revealed by Mr Sharif, this cohort’s reaction was not to retreat, embarrassed, from the political sphere. Rather it sought to co-opt Mr Khan and sculpt an administration more to its liking. If so, there are lessons for Mr Khan, whose government is struggling to find a sense of direction. Once upon a time the army helped Mr Sharif into power, too.

The Economist

HYDERABAD: Senior journalists described veteran newsman Hussain Naqi as the name of resistance and a rebel at a reception in his honour held at the local press club here on Monday.

Veteran journalist Abdul Aziz Malik said Hussain Naqi always fought for rights and the truth though he had to face a tough time. He supported Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during Ayub Khan’s martial law, but then Bhutto sent him to jail. He said the rulers expelled him from Sindh due to his bold stance and speaking the truth. Mr Naqi published newspaper Punjab Punch though it was quite difficult during Ayub’s martial law, he added.

“I remember when Z.A. Bhutto was attacked in Sanghar, I wrote a sentence in Punjab Punch. ‘If anything happens to Bhutto, the River Indus will flow with blood’. This is the motivation of Naqi. After this the paper was banned,” he said.

He said Naqi spoke for downtrodden masses, farmers, and oppressed people. “There is no journalism nowadays unfortunately.” There was no reading of books anymore; without devouring books, how anything could be written, he said, adding that Naqi perused books and wrote marvellously.

He said Faiz Ahmed Faiz was the editor of Pakistan Times and Mian Iftikharuddin Jagirdar could not dare see him without his permission through his secretary.

“Who could ask Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ahmed Ali Khan, I.A. Rehman and other giants to interfere in editorials etc? I saw that journalism and today’s one,” he said.

Slamming the policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government, he said they were demolishing houses in the name of clearing encroachments without any planning for settlement of the affected people in winter season. He said journalists were so weak today that they could not get their incorrect electricity bills rectified. “How can they resolve the issues of others?” he asked.

Sharing unforgettable experiences of his life with journalists from the beginning of his professional life to date, Hussain Naqi mentioned dark periods of General Ayub, Z.A. Bhutto and dictator Ziaul Haq. He also focused on current scenario of the country. He said Faiz Ahmed Faiz was the first prisoner of the country in history when he was arrested in 1948 because of his writings. He called for unity of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist (PFUJ) to get their demands met.

“When journalists are divided, it means that journalism has been marred. They will be used by others because of their divisions. I heard there are five PFUJs today,” he said.

Journalist Sohail Sangi said had to undergo difficulties to get the rights of the needy. He said he was a great thinker and had many fans.

Journalist Ali Hassan said Naqi always fought against heavyweights like Z.A. Bhutto, Zia, Ayub and others because of his bold and honest nature.

Dawn